Salsa Location Review - Establishment

Venue - Establishment - 252 George Street, Sydney, Australia

Using the train, get off at Wynyard station, though Circular Quay is probably a doable distance for a walk.

Time - Tuesday - The music seem to start at 9 and the place gets quite crowded by 9:30. By 10, it's usually so packed, you can't do big moves.

Floor - Marble/Stone, though I have to check from memory. It's a comfortable floor, but as it's a Bar with lots of non-dancers going back and forth, don't be surprised if the floor gets wet at some stage of the night. You "find" space to dance, as the place is not designed to host dancers. There are area in the back (Cuban) and area in the front (Linea, also right at the entrance) to dance. These style segregation is not a clear cut segregation, but it means people "drift" to this area.

Music/Style - The music is DJ, with a mix of Salsa, Bachata and Merengue, but no Zouk yet. As mentined above, there's a mix of Linear and Cuban, if you want to dance either, with a decent mix of music, so you can be flexible with your style of dancing.

Level of dancers - I haven't spent time in the back so I can only comment on the front side (Linear) dancers. The level of dancers vary with some really high caliber dancers and some real beginners dancing among each other. To be honest, as it's a well established drinking place, some regular patrons can "join in" the dance floor. I have heard that the Est crowd tend to come only to Est, and I can say it may not be untrue. Some of them, I have not seen anywhere else.

Cost - Entry is free. The place seem to do just fine (as it's in the middle of the city) by having normal patrons who drinks.

Note : Personally, I have a love hate thing with this place. I've had fun, and I have had good memory with the place. But the place gets very crowded very quickly, with the added bonus of patrons just walking past blatantly to get in/out of the bar. When you get surrounded by dancers who have not honed their "navigation skills", you can be in for some elbow bumping night. At the same time, this can allow you to just dance cloese to your partner.

Happy dancing!